Potential flow of alpha activity in the human electroencephalogram.

The movement of potential field of alpha activity was investigated with a potential flow technique, alpha activity was divided into slow, medium and fast subbands. The peak-to-peak amplitude and source density distribution of each subband was also constructed. The potential flow of medium alpha was from medial to lateral in the anterior region, and from lateral to medial in the posterior region. The flow patterns of slow and fast alpha were more complicated. Similar flow directions formed a group. Different groups met or diverged at discontinuous grid points around the local maxima of potential distribution. The discontinuous points of medium alpha were centered in the parieto-occipital region, and those of slow and fast alpha were more equally distributed over the scalp. Against potential gradients, several groups of similar flow directions participated in the formation of potential field. The generation of potential field was assumed to be controlled widely for medium alpha and locally for slow and fast alpha.